STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- After two months rebuilding Not Just Bagels, which was destroyed by nine feet of floodwater during Hurricane Sandy, Diana Petrone will reopen her family's Dongan Hills deli Friday at 5 a.m.

Not Just Bagels was renovated six months before the storm hit in October, but Ms. Petrone worked with her parents and fiance to rebuild after the storm surge gutted low-lying areas on Hylan Boulevard.

"It looked like a washing machine went off in here, and then a tornado hit the washing machine," she remembered thinking when she first returned to the deli after the storm.

Ms. Petrone said she did not have flood insurance, and was denied assistance by her insurance company. She failed to gain assistance from federal funding agencies. But Ms. Petrone and her family were committed to reopening the store.